That Wasn't Your Mother

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"": "In that instant, Luo Bin felt as though he had plunged into an ice cellar.

"Xiao Shan, don't keep staring at the Evil Spirits. The more you look at them, the more their words can bewitch you!" Despite her terror, Gu Ya stood up, grabbed Luo Bin's arm, and pulled him back.

Luo Feng drew his machete and thrust it through the gap in the door!

Luo Bin took just two steps back and could no longer see what was happening outside.

Then Luo Feng withdrew the machete. Its tip was stained crimson!

"The Evil Spirits deep in the mountains are better at bewitching people than the ones that enter the village. Don't listen. Don't think about it. Everything's fine," Luo Feng said hoarsely.

Only then did Luo Bin's heartbeat settle a little, but his temples were still pounding painfully.

I am an Evil Spirit... That's what I really am.

He just hadn't expected to hear it from the mouths of other Evil Spirits.

As the old saying went, a clear conscience had nothing to fear from a ghost knocking at the door. Luo Bin was afraid precisely because he dared not let anyone learn the truth. His conscience wasn't clear!

Laughter rose and fell outside, one burst following another, as though the "people" out there were mocking those inside for deceiving themselves.

Then another harsh, ducklike voice rang out. "Anyone whose left pinky nail we pull off becomes one of us-what you call an Evil Spirit. Luo Feng, why don't you take another look at your son's pinky? Why don't you cut open his chest and see whether his heart is still beating?"

"Why don't you try falling asleep in front of him, both of you, and see whether he'll open the door and let us in to eat you?"

Luo Feng sneered. "I take back what I just said. You're not very good at bewitching people after all. You're stupid, and you expect me to be stupid too? Xiao Shan came back to life. If he were an Evil Spirit, our whole family would have died back in the village. Get lost."

Luo Feng's resolve only grew firmer. He didn't waver in the slightest.

"It's all right, Xiao Shan. It's all right..." Gu Ya pulled Luo Bin down to sit beside her and comforted him softly.

Sweat trickled down his temples. Luo Bin wiped it away, but his gaze instinctively fell on his left pinky.

Many days had passed since he had awakened through Soul Summoning, and he had forgotten all about his missing nail.

The scab had long since fallen off. His bare pinky looked like a little rod of flesh, glaringly out of place.

More sweat poured down. Some seeped into the corners of his eyes, making them sting.

It was certainly good that Luo Feng and Gu Ya didn't believe the spirits.

But how could this not be a blow to Luo Bin himself?

"Xiao Shan, don't listen to their nonsense..." Gu Ya's eyes reddened. "Mom's right here. Your dad and I both know you're perfectly fine. Don't let them bewitch you."

"A nail takes a long time to grow back after it falls off. Don't listen to them. If you do, they'll have won."

Luo Bin was still tormented inside.

Well, at least he didn't have to worry about what Luo Feng and Gu Ya thought. Instead, they were worrying about him.

"I'm fine..." Luo Bin clenched his fist, tucking his pinky deep inside it.

His hand was still slightly slick from the scraps of the plastic bag he had used to hold the oil.

Earlier, while Gu Ya and Luo Feng weren't looking, he had thrown them into a corner and ground them into the dirt with the toe of his shoe.

Only after a long while did Luo Bin manage to banish the rest of his tangled thoughts.

That's right. My body is an Evil Spirit's, but at least Lamp Oil can ease the light aversion and bloodlust. Sooner or later, I'll find a way out! Sooner or later, I'll break through the veil shrouding Cabinet Mountain Village! Sooner or later, I'll fix what's wrong with me!

Outside, it grew quiet.

Having said so much without getting anywhere, the Evil Spirits stopped wasting their breath.

Luo Feng sat against the wall, his machete back in the sheath on his leather belt.

Gu Ya held Luo Bin's fist. Though she was frightened herself, she kept comforting him.

Such was the power of a mother's love.

"I'm all right now, Mom." Luo Bin smiled.

Gu Ya pressed her lips together, then gave him a broad smile. Her voice sounded much firmer.

"Once we've eaten, let's get a good night's sleep and build up our strength. Tomorrow, you and your dad can scout the way. Once we find a way out, we won't have to face these disgusting things anymore!"

With that, Gu Ya opened one of the bundles she had brought and took out some food and water.

Luo Bin had little appetite, but he still chewed the flatbread hard and forced it down.

In a situation like this, they had to eat well and sleep well to keep their strength up.

Gu Ya straightened the bedding on the floor a little. It was certainly too filthy to lie on, but at least they could sit on it and sleep against the wall.

A whole day of climbing had already left them exhausted.

Soon, Gu Ya's breathing grew steady, and Luo Feng began snoring softly.

"Kill them. This is a perfect chance. Kill them. You're one of us."

Soft whispers crept into his ears from behind.

The house was small, and the Evil Spirit had moved to the wall just behind him to speak, its voice naturally sounding right beside his ear.

Luo Bin shifted forward a little, then simply lay flat on the floor. Away from the wall, he could no longer hear the whispers. Directly above him was the rust-mottled Oil Lamp, and once again, its light stung his eyes a little. He quickly shut them and soon drifted into a deep sleep.

He slept poorly, plagued by jumbled dreams.

He relived his attempts to save himself over and over, along with the original owner's murder. Then he dreamed he was walking along a village road, a great crowd of Evil Spirits moving ahead of him. Every house and courtyard had its doors tightly shut. He was covered in blood, utterly forlorn.

A creaking sound roused Luo Bin, and he blearily opened his eyes.

The light outside was still dim. Dawn had broken, but the sun had yet to appear.

Birds chirped noisily.

Luo Feng's figure stepped outside.

Luo Bin propped himself up, and Gu Ya reached out to help him.

"I'm fine, Mom." Luo Bin smiled, then stood.

He felt a little dizzy, but once he stepped outside and the cool mountain breeze brushed him, his head cleared considerably.

Ahead and to one side, Luo Feng stretched his limbs and turned to look at Luo Bin. "Most people head back today. If they spend two days out here, the Village Chief usually won't say anything. In a little while, we'll leave your mom here while the two of us head toward the summit."

Luo Bin's heart lurched again before he asked, "Is it safe?"

"It's safe. She'll lock the door. Before, you always stayed with your mom. This time, she should be able to manage on her own." Luo Feng's words revealed a little more information, but Luo Bin's careful phrasing kept his question from seeming suspicious.

"I'm fine. You two be careful." Gu Ya followed them outside and handed Luo Bin a flatbread filled with pickled vegetables and dried meat.

Luo Bin took it and bit into it hard.

Luo Feng took a flatbread too, then said, "Go back inside and lock the door. We'll be back before dark. Remember what I told you."

"All right. I remember." Gu Ya nodded firmly and went back inside.

A clunk sounded as she barred the door from within.

Then Luo Feng continued forward, and Luo Bin followed him.

They ate as they walked. At last, Luo Bin could make out some trail marks, though they were few and far between.

"Two years ago, the third stopping point was the last one. Everyone who made it there wanted to find a way out, but a lot of them died. Eventually, someone made it back alive."

"He came back and told the Village Chief. Then I drew the lot and established the fourth stopping point."

"Your mom waited for me at the second stopping point back then. She waited seven days and thought I was dead."

"I built a rough wooden house. Over the past two years, others have gradually finished it. The Village Chief hasn't mentioned a fifth stopping point, which means the whole village has made no progress in those two years."

Luo Feng began explaining.

Luo Bin carefully committed the information to memory, then said, "The Village Chief only asks for half a kilometer. That doesn't sound so difficult."

Luo Feng paused and gave Luo Bin a long look before saying, "Can half a kilometer get you out of the village?"

He raised a hand and pointed farther ahead and higher up, his words firm and forceful. "We need to head toward the summit. No one from the village has ever reached it. From high ground, you can see farther. Maybe if we stand up there, we'll be able to make something out."

Luo Bin drew a deep breath, his heartbeat quickening.

They walked for about half an hour without encountering any danger.

"If you take a wrong turn because you're not paying attention, you end up back in the village? But we haven't gone back there at all, so maybe this route can lead us out. And there haven't been any other dangers. It just seems like an ordinary mountain trail."

"Then couldn't everyone walk during the day, stop to rest at night, and make camp somewhere suitable until they get out? Why hasn't there been even one new stopping point in the past two years?" No sooner had Luo Bin finished asking than cold sweat broke out over him.

Twenty or thirty meters ahead and to one side stood a crooked old tree. A person hung from it, swaying in the wind like a wind chime.

His corpse had completely dried out, like a mummy. His legs had been clawed to shreds, exposing the bones, and the rest of his body was covered in wounds.

"The Evil Spirits outside the village are cleverer. I called them stupid yesterday, but with a single remark, they achieved two things. They tormented you and made you think something was wrong with you, while also trying to make us believe it."

"Our family is among the more strong-minded people in the village. But what about the others? Who doesn't have secrets buried deep down? The Evil Spirits can always trick people into leaving the houses."

"Especially when there aren't any houses along this trail. People have to build them. Fear can easily make someone give up halfway." Luo Feng delivered those three statements in succession, his gaze fixed on the hanging man. Then he suddenly asked, "Do you know how he died?"

"Didn't the Evil Spirits hang him up and kill him? Right, why wasn't he buried? I saw burial mounds around the third stopping point," Luo Bin asked.

"Those were scouts who died from snake venom. The people who came afterward buried them one by one. Anyone killed by an Evil Spirit has to be burned. He wasn't killed by an Evil Spirit. Look at the rope around his neck. He was already dead when he was hung up there," Luo Feng explained.

Luo Bin frowned, not understanding at first. But when he examined the mummy's neck, he did indeed see a loop of rope. It had long since cut through the man's throat.

"There were traps left by mountain folk up here?" Luo Bin blurted out.

Luo Feng gave Luo Bin a searching look before saying, "You really are clever."

Luo Bin said nothing.

He couldn't very well tell Luo Feng that he and Gu Yiren had spent a night in a mountain dweller's house, could he?

There had indeed been an Oil Lamp there, and the Village Chief had taken Lamp Oil from that place.

But now Luo Bin felt certain the Village Chief hadn't built that house. It had already existed.

There had been traps all around the house, and even two Evil Spirits dressed as mountain folk had fallen into them...

Did that mean ordinary people had once lived on this mountain too?

Just as he was thinking this over, he faintly heard cries for help behind him.

Luo Bin shuddered and whipped his head around.

In the distance, he could vaguely make out a figure that seemed to be half sunk into the ground, shouting for help.

"Mom?" Luo Bin's heart skipped a beat, and he started to run back.

Luo Feng grabbed his shoulder, his gaze cold and stern. "That isn't your mother. Your mother's staying in the house. Have you forgotten what I told you?"

Luo Bin's eyelids twitched violently, and sweat beaded on his forehead.